He/She who…

Has the gold, rules…

As Hollywood stars, politicians and professional athletes revealed this week that they had been tested for coronavirus — despite not always having a fever or other tell-tale symptoms of COVID-19 — they faced backlash.

Full article, HERE.

C’mon can anyone honestly say they are surprised by this? I sure as hell am not. I’m just like the rest of us peons. Praying I don’t get it and have to rely on the VA/Medicare to get tested. I don’t have $1000 to drop on a test, much less know where to find a doc that would contravene the rules for that. But then again, I’m NOT important…

The other question is how much human capital is going to be wasted on these mandatory lockdown/shelter in place requirements? And how many that aren’t infected are actually going to OBEY those requirements? Social distancing, sure. Not go out to get food, not support those local restaurants who’s lifeblood depends on the community?

What will happen in this lasts longer than a couple of weeks? Anarchy? REAL panic? Beats the hell outta me. Glad I live in a small town. SMDH…

TBT…

I can’t help but wonder how the folks that own this little restaurant in Sicily are doing…

Bouganstia, up in Motta, Sicily. First walked in there 26 years ago. The old man who ran it spoke NO English! He called and his little 10 year old granddaughter came running down and was our waitress the first time. In 2010, the last time I was there, she was now married and the owner with her husband doing the cooking! 🙂

They could seat about 24-26 people total, and the food was outstanding! I think we were some of the first Americans to try the place, and the folks on base probably kept them going through some hard times in Italy.

Posted in TBT

Corona sale…

Due to the stay at home/work from home/sequestration that is becoming the norm rather than the exception, I’m trying to do my part to alleviate some of the ‘pain’… sigh

I’m putting all of my Kindle books, shorts, and novellas on sale for the next week. 30-67% off, depending on the title. The reason for the spread is Amazon’s promotion pricing…

Anyhoo, HERE is the link to my author page, which has all my books listed. You can also select the links on the left and that will take you to specific books.

I know it’s not much, but maybe I can help alleviate some boredom.

Mondaze…

Being a man ‘of an age’, the time has come once again for ye olde colonoscopy…

Of course all I had to ‘eat’ yesterday was broth… And what did PP send me a picture of?

Both the grandkids love fruit, and they go through a lot of it. But that was NOT what I needed to see as my stomach grumbled… And then she said she had to buy tri-tip since they were out of hamburger.

Grrrr…

O.M.G. Watched the first 10 minutes of the Dems debate last night… TDS is alive and well with those two. All they wanted to do was throw money at the problem and ‘save the people’ with free everything… Turned it off before I shot the TV…

By the time you read this I will be hungry, grumpy, and heading for the doc’s office.

Sigh…

It’s turning into one of THOSE weekends…

And this one is an old Texas saying… Actually probably anywhere there are cowboys… 🙂

Hopefully tomorrow will have some semblance of sanity…

OMG Eleventy!!!

So… REEEEEE we’re all gonna DIE! Eleventy…

The MSM/Dems/Left is melting down over Wuhan Flu. No, I’m not politically correct. That is where it started. Just like Middle East respiratory syndrome, MERS. The B-boys, Bernie and Biden have come out with all kinds of statements blaming everybody but themselves and their cohorts for the current situation.

Hospital count is down by 16% or 984ish hospitals from the 1970s. Why? Conglomerates for one, HMOs for another, and lastly, insurance companies. Most of the hospitals ‘closed’ were rural or smaller institutions that couldn’t compete with the big boys for doctors, nurses, or insurance contracts.

Of course the B-boys are screaming about the lack of ICU beds/ventilators/respirators, saying there needs to be an ‘immediate ramp up’ of production. So… who is going to PAY for that?

And one of them (Bernie, I think) was all for MANDATORY recall of retired doctors and nurses, forcing them back into practice (umm… wouldn’t the older/retired doctors/nurses be in the group that is MOST in danger from Wuhan Flu?) and the ‘government’ would pay them.

President Trump has put travel restrictions in place, first from the far east, now from Europe to the screams of the left/MSM about (insert your favorite ism here). He is also being blamed for the CDC’s lack of test kits, a vaccine, etc.

He declared a national emergency yesterday for $50B for states and territories to set up operations centers, and hospitals to activate their emergency command centers to handle the expected influx of patients. HHS will have permission to waive certain laws in the face of the projected emergency, including telehealth, allowing doctors to move across state lines to service the highest need areas. The national emergency allows the U.S. to activate operational plans, such as moving emergency rooms offsite to keep those infected with the virus away from other emergency room patients.

Commercial labs have been freed up to provide test kits, FDA has now approved Roche, LabCorp, and Quest for a new testing protocol in the last week, shortcutting the normal lead time by months.

Dr. Fouci from the NIH has also been allowed to remove many of the ‘constraints’ to working with them and the CDC to try to drive the expected pandemic ‘curve’ down as flat as possible by being proactive rather than reactive.

It appears that Roche, LabCorp, and Quest will be deploying testing capability to their labs this weekend in response to the meetings last week. Google is apparently doing a website that will direct people to ‘drive by’ testing in various locations nationwide with the labs to be providing results within 24 hours.

CMS is also being allowed to wavier a number rules/regulations with respect to hospitals, nursing homes, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Just for clarification, the previous administration’s response to H1N1 was as follows-

Obama declared a public health emergency on April 26, 2009 and declared a national emergency in October 2009

Trump’s administration declared a public health emergency related to the coronavirus on January 31, 2020 and a national emergency on March 13, 2020.

Wash your hands, use common sense, and don’t panic. (And I’d almost say don’t pay attention to the MSM, or take anything they say with a LARGE (maybe a pound or so) grain of salt.)

Book promo…

First up is Alma Boykin with another Familiar tale- Furiously Familiar

As always, click on the cover for the link to Amazon!

The blurb-

Ah, the holiday season. Peace, quiet, rest, and . . . were-creatures?

The perfect Halloween and Christmas gift for a pair of shadow mages? A fat holiday pay-check and no excitement. Lelia Chan and her fiancé survived enough excitement already for the year. Unable to work magic, André needs time to rest and recover. Lelia just wants to survive the goth sales rush of Halloween through Christmas.

But a young man looking for a were-wolf belt leads Lelia and her Familiar Tay onto a dark and deadly road.

Winter brings darkness and shadow. Evil also walks the long nights, stalking innocents. Evil also watches Lelia, patient, waiting . . .

Next up is Amanda Green/Sam Schall with the sixth book in the Honor and Duty series- Risen from the Ashes

The blurb-

As a Marine, Ashlyn Shaw knows the day might come when she would not return from a mission. As an officer in the Fuerconese Marine Corps, she’s faced the difficult duty of sending the men and women under her command to their deaths. Both are nightmares she, and so many like her, live with. War is a cruel and costly endeavor, but one well worth the cost if it means keeping their homeworld free.

What Ash wasn’t prepared for was betrayal. Betrayal by members of her own government. Betrayal by certain members of the military. Betrayal by supposed allies. Betrayals that cost the lives of too many she cared for.

Unluckily for her enemies, that betrayal has cut too deeply to be allowed to go unpunished. Her enemies will soon learn how foolish they were to push her too far.

A new novel from Martin Shoemaker is out, the first in a new series- The Last Dance

The blurb-

At the heart of a mystery unfolding in space, the opposing forces make a treacherous journey between Earth and Mars.

In space, mutiny means death—that’s why Inspector General Park Yerim is taking her investigation so seriously. The alleged mutineer is Captain Nicolau Aames, whose command of the massive Earth-Mars vessel Aldrin has come under fire. The vast System Initiative says he disobeyed orders, but his crew swears he’s in the right.

En route to Mars, Park gathers testimony from the Aldrin’s diverse crew, painting a complex picture of Aames’s character: his heroism, his failures, even his personal passions. As the investigation unfolds, Park finds herself in the thrall of powerful interests, each pushing and pulling her in a fiery cosmic dance.

Corruption, conflicting loyalties, and clashing accounts make it nearly impossible to see the truth in fifty million miles of darkness, and Park faces danger from every direction. All eyes are on her: one way or another, her findings will have astronomical implications for the Aldrin and the future of space travel.

 

And last, but not least, Cedar Sanderson is in an anthology- The Heart’s Enchantment

The blurb-

Hearts’ Enchantment brings together 12 fantasy and romance authors to spin stories of love and romance set in medieval worlds. From retired warriors to spies and nobles, romance and love finds a way.

Authors include Cedar Sanderson, Misha Burnett, Mel Todd, Nico Murray, and more!

From sweet to spicy, there’s something to satisfy any fan of fantasy, romance, or both!

A little humor???

Maybe???

Oil Change instructions for Women :

1) Pull up to Jiffy Lube when the mileage reaches 3000 miles since the last oil change.

2) Drink a cup of coffee.

3) 15 minutes later, write a check and leave with a properly maintained vehicle.

Money spent:

Oil Change:              $20.00

Coffee:                     $ 1.00

Total:                       $21.00

Oil Change instructions for Men:

1) Wait until Saturday, drive to auto parts store, and buy a case of oil, filter, kitty litter, hand cleaner, and a scented tree, write a check for $50.00.

2) Stop by 7/11 and buy a case of beer, write a check for $20, drive home.

3) Open a beer and drink it.

4) Jack car up.  Spend 30 minutes looking for jack stands.

5) Find jack stands under kid’s pedal car.

6) In frustration, open another beer and drink it.

7) Place drain pan under engine.

8) Look for 9/16 box end wrench.

9) Give up and use crescent wrench.

10) Unscrew drain plug.

11) Drop drain plug in pan of hot oil:  splash hot oil on you in process.  Cuss.

12) Crawl out from under car to wipe hot oil off of face and arms.  Throw kitty litter on spilled oil.

13) Have another beer while watching oil drain.

14) Spend 30 minutes looking for oil filter wrench.

15) Give up; crawl under car and hammer a screwdriver through oil filter and twist off.

16) Crawl out from under car with dripping oil filter splashing oil everywhere from holes.  Cleverly hide old oil filter among trash in trash can to avoid environmental penalties.  Drink a beer.

17) Install new oil filter making sure to apply a thin coat of oil to gasket surface.

18) Dump first quart of fresh oil into engine.

19) Remember drain plug from step 11.

20) Hurry to find drain plug in drain pan.

21) Drink beer.

22) Discover that first quart of fresh oil is now on the floor.  Throw kitty litter on oil spill.

23) Get drain plug back in with only a minor spill.  Drink beer.

24) Crawl under car getting kitty litter into eyes.  Wipe eyes with oily rag used to clean drain plug.  Slip with stupid crescent wrench tightening drain plug and bang knuckles on frame removing any excess skin between knuckles and frame.

25) Begin cussing fit.

26) Throw stupid crescent wrench.

27) Cuss for additional 5 minutes because wrench hit bowling trophy.

28) Beer.

29) Clean up hands and bandage as required to stop blood flow.

30) Beer.

31) Dump in five fresh quarts of oil.

32) Beer.

33) Lower car from jack stands.

34) Move car back to apply more kitty litter to fresh oil spilled during any missed steps.

35) Beer.

36) Test drive car.

37) Get pulled over and arrested for driving under the influence.

38) Car gets impounded.

39) Call loving wife, make bail.

40) 12 hours later, get car from impound yard.

Money spent:

Parts:                    $ 50.00

DUI:                      $2,500.00

Impound fee:              $75.00

Bail:                       $1,500.00

Beer:                          $20.00

Total:                     $4,145.00

But you know the job was done right!

You just can’t make this up…

Biden goes ballistic over a gun question, HERE.  And there go the union votes…

Portland has a ‘fix’ for the homeless and Coronavirus…

KGW-TV reports that city and county officials have requested that homeless shelters ask “houseless” people to stay six feet from each other in the shelters and if they won’t do that, send them back on the streets and demand they separate themselves there.

Like THAT will work… full article, HERE. I just wonder how long it will take for the virus to work its way through the Seattle, Portland, SFO, Los Angeles, and San Diego homeless?

Cue Cuomo in NY, HE’s gonna fix it… With the National Guard…

Cuomo announced he was dispatching the National Guard to enforce the closure of “large gathering areas” within the radius, including schools, houses of worship, and other large gathering facilities effective starting Thursday and running for two weeks. The two Metro-North stations serving the area will remain open, transit sources said.

Full article, HERE. Oh, and the center of the area is a Jewish synagogue…

Lastly, can ANYBODY ‘splain the run on toilet paper??? Sigh…

The mind…

Boggles…

Is it racist to announce that you’ve contracted a possibly deadly virus while referring to the virus by the name of the city where it originally broke out? For example, is using the phrase “I’m scared because I just found out I have the Wuhan virus” evidence of racism?

Apparently, yes…

Full article, HERE.

WTF people???

And while I’m on that subject, what is it with a virus scare that is causing a run (literally in some big box stores) on stuff? 2,3,4 of the BIG packages of toilet paper, ten or more cases of water, entire shelves of wipes???

I was in Japan just after Fukushima happened. There were some shortages but there was NO hoarding that I ever saw. At most, people would get TWO big bottles of water, or ONE roll of toilet paper. And their situation was presumptively a LOT more dire at that time than we have now.

Of course, if a lot of folks want to self-quarantine, the more the better in a lot of cases…

Just sayin… 🙂